193 replies so far

I just bought a wooden bodied jointer plane at a flea market for $4.00 I probably over paid by about $3.75 it has a cast iron piece that sits on top of the body almost shaped like a rolling pin with a square hole that the frog sets in. Those are the only salvageable parts. I want to make a new body using oak with a black walnut sole fused together in a butt joint style. The sides would also be black walnut, so the front and back would look something like this.

I’ll post a picture of the $4.00 jointer that I bought when USB connection to my phone decides that it’s no longer on strike.

There’s no need for using finger joints for the plane body, and would be difficult to pull off to boot. All you really need to do is dimension the lumber properly and glue it up. If you search this site for “Krenov plane” you’ll find a ton of projects similar to your plan.

Oak is actually harder than black walnut, so you’re basically better off either making the main body walnut with an oak sole or making the entire thing oak.

I was shooting for a bit of style Sham. i knew that finger jointing wouldn’t be easy so I figured I practice on some scrap 2×4’s. As long as I can get the fingers and the spaces between the fingers the same on both pieces the side can be flushed on a table saw.

Matthias Wandle and a buddy of his were making his wood gear box joint jigs and selling them but they decided that they could never get the money out of them that their time and effort was worth so they stopped.

As long as I can get the fingers and the spaces between the fingers the same on both pieces the side can be flushed on a table saw.

There’s the rub. That’s a loooong finger joint. You’d best look into making or buying a finger-joint jig, and for sure you’ll have to buy a flat-topped dado blade (I’ve got a Freud box-joint blade set that cuts perfectly flat and clean), or do it on a router table. You can’t use a regular table saw blade, because it doesn’t make flat cuts.

The router table method is fraught, because you’ll probably have to make multiple passes to get the depth, but you’ll need to avoid any tearout.

I’m not trying to discourage you, because I think I’ve been where you’re at now. But I enjoyed woodworking a lot more when I simplified my plans and techniques to match my skill level, whereas before I was constantly running up against things that didn’t work out as I expected.

What is the name of the iron part that the tote and knob are setting on? That part and the frog aren’t in very bad shape. Some de-rusting jelly, EMMA-ry paper and black semi gloss engine enamel will take care of those. As far as the hardware I need a iron, chip breaker and lever cap… then it all wood from there.